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EARTH DAY 2011 A BILLION ACTS OF GREEN
EASTER EGG ROLL BATTLE OF THE BULGE
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AMERICAN PATRIOT EARTH DAY 2011 A BILLION ACTS OF GREEN
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6 NOAH WEBSTER
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THE FATHER OF AMERICAN ENGLISH
THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE
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MARFA TEXAS MEETS MINIMALISM
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AMERICAN PATRIOT
AMERICA’S FUN FOODS
BUFFALO WINGS
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK
THIS WEEK IN AMERICAN HISTORY
EARTH DAY 2011 A BILLION ACTS OF GREEN
With the shadow of extreme climate change and nuclear risks hanging over the world, this year’s Earth Day celebrations will be more ambitious and far reaching than in past years. The theme of this year’s “day” – recognize the power of individual action and corporate initiative. 4 AMERICAN PATRIOT
Hoping to amass one billion individual and orga-
reforestation; urban areas of the United States will
nizational “acts” for the environment in advance
be a focus as well. Again looking to plant an addi-
of the Earth Summit in Rio in 2012, the Earth Day
tional million trees, the project will center on large-
Network is coordinating efforts of all sizes and
scale, sponsor-supported projects in partnership
scope. The project website for “A Billion Acts of
with non-profit organizations.
Green,” is registering and quantifying the contri-
www.earthday.org/campaign/canopy-project
butions and commitments of people, corporations and organizations to further the goal of reducing
GREEN AMERICA’S SCHOOLS
carbon emissions and supporting sustainability.
In 2007, in conjunction with several prominent environmental organizations, former President Clin-
The Earth Day Network has created several new
ton and the Clinton Foundation have announced a
initiatives for this year, harnessing the power of
commitment to “Green America’s Schools” within
environmental experts, citizens and media figures:
a generation. Green Schools, in addition to reducing operating costs and ushering in modernization,
ATHLETES FOR THE EARTH
are excellent tools to teach children the importance
Olympic and professional athletes are recruited
of sustainability. The program reaches over 30,000
into the environmental movement in this outreach
educators a year in all parts of the country.
program. By serving as spokespeople for the envi-
www.earthday.org/campaign/green-schools
ronment, and by integrating related themes into athletic events, the athletes have reached groups
WOMEN AND THE GREEN ECONOMY
generally not exposed to sustainability messages.
As innovation and investment migrate towards
Participating athletes/celebs include Olympic Nordic
environmentally sustainable technologies, there exists
Combined Gold Medalist Billy Demong, Olympic
tremendous opportunity for the advancement of
Alpine Skiing Bronze Medalist Andrew Weibrecht,
women worldwide. Prominent women in government,
World Champion Freeskier and Save Our Snow
business, and NGOs have been brought together
Foundation founder Alison Gannett, Boston Bruins
through this initiative to aggregate their influence to
Defenseman Andrew Ference, Olympic Gold Medal
promote sustainability, and to grow opportunities
Swimmer Aaron Peirsol, and NFL Linebacker Dhani
for women in the emerging environmental economy.
Jones. www.earthday.org/campaign/athletes-earth
www.earthday.org/campaign/women-and-greeneconomy-wage
THE CANOPY PROJECT Under 2010’s Avatar Home Tree Initiative, one
ARTS FOR THE EARTH
million trees have been planted in 16 countries.
This is an innovative education program developed
South and Central America are the focus this year,
to teach sustainability and environmental education
as Haiti, Brazil and Mexico are in urgent need of
through museum and arts community networks.
FOLLOW IN REAL TIME HOW AVERAGE PEOPLE ARE ANSWERING THE CALL TO ACT
NOAH WEBSTER THE FATHER OF AMERICAN ENGLISH
6 AMERICAN PATRIOT
Noah Webster loved the English language. A lexiconographer, author and political writer, Webster spent his life seeking to reform education and bring coherence to the language of America.
Webster’s ultimate goal, however, was to create a truly American dictionary. At 43 years old, Webster began his work on this project. American English was still inconsistent at the time with words, phrases and spellings from British English mixed in and mixed up. Webster sought unity; he defined Born in 1758, Webster was the child of a wellestablished Yankee family. He graduated from Yale University in 1778 and served in the Connecticut Militia while in school. Webster went on to become a schoolteacher in Hartford. After a few years of teaching, he realized that the American school system desperately needed to be reformed. The schools were overcrowded and the books were outdated. Many schoolbooks were still being shipped over from England. In 1783, Webster took initiative and wrote his own textbook entitled “A Grammatical Institute of the English Language,” but affectionately referred to by students and teachers alike as the “BlueBacked Speller.” So popular were these textbooks, that they were still in use half a century after their creation. Throughout his life, he continued
words like “color” — eschewing the British version “colour” — so that American English would be congruous across the country. He finished 47 years later with a dictionary that contained with 70,000 words. Although some Americans found fault with some of the spellings in the dictionary at the time, Webster ignored these dissenters, and forged ahead with publication. The dictionary became an influential best seller for homes, schools and businesses. Webster died in 1843, and the rights to the dictionary were sold to the Merriam brothers. Charles and George Merriam revised the dictionary several times during their lifetimes. Modifications were continued after the brothers died. Now, Webster’s legacy is fondly remembered by every schoolchild who owns a Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary.
to edit and write textbooks. AMERICAN PATRIOT 7
HOW TO
LIVE UNITED: JOIN HANDS. OPEN YOUR HEART. LEND YOUR MUSCLE.
FIND YOUR VOICE. GIVE 10%. GIVE 100%.
GIVE 110%. GIVE AN HOUR. GIVE A SATURDAY. THINK OF WE BEFORE ME. REACH OUT A HAND TO ONE AND
INFLUENCE THE CONDITION OF ALL.
GIVE. ADVOCATE. VOLUNTEER.
LIVE UNITED
™
Want to make a difference? Help create opportunities for everyone in your community. United Way is creating real, lasting change where you live, by focusing on the building blocks of a better life– education, income and health. That’s what it means to Live United. For more, visit LIVEUNITED.ORG.
THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE
“This is undoubtedly the greatest American battle of the war…” – WINSTON CHURCHILL
The winter of 1944 was fiercely cold across Western Europe. Germany was losing the war, and Allied spirits were rising. Earlier that year, the Allies had successfully stormed the beaches of Normandy and moved quickly across France. They had reached the Rhine, but before penetrating the German homeland, they would face one last major offensive. 8 AMERICAN PATRIOT
The Battle of the Bulge, as the fight became known, was the largest battle U.S. forces were involved in during World War II. The battlefield stretched over 80 miles, all the way from Belgium to Luxembourg. Hitler hoped to break the Allied forces’ momentum by surprise: his strategy was to break through the Allied troops and march north to Antwerp, where German troops could cut off the main supply base for the Allied forces located on the Western Front.
were cleverly dressed in white uniforms to blend into the snow and fog, which made it even more difficult for the Allied troops. Over 500,000 American and 55,000 British troops fought in the battle led by Generals Patton, Eisenhower, McAuliffe, Bradley, Hodges, and British General Montgomery. After fierce fighting, the Germans finally began to retreat in early January. By midJanuary, the “bulge” was merely a slight curve in the line.
On the night of December 15, 1944, Hitler sent German soldiers disguised as American troops with proficient English skills to confuse the American troops by giving them false directions, cutting communication wires, and changing road signs. The next day, under heavy fog, the German Army began to advance, pushing the Americans all the way back to the Meuse River and creating a huge “bulge” in the line.
The Allied troops had been brave and relentless. Winston Churchill said of the battle: “This is undoubtedly the greatest American battle of the war and will, I believe, be regarded as an everfamous American victory.” German casualties were very high; historians estimate that approximately 100,000 German soldiers were killed or wounded during the battle. In addition, 800 tanks and 1,000 aircraft were destroyed.
It took more than a week for the Americans to begin their first counterattack. Heavy snowstorms and severe weather made planning and moving large groups very difficult. German troops
AN INTERACTIVE MAP OF THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE A COLLECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE BATTLE
AMERICAN PATRIOT 9
MARFA TEXAS MEETS MINIMALISM
10 AMERICAN PATRIOT
While driving along Route 90 through the barren west Texas desert, drivers might be surprised to spot a Prada store along the side of the road. Turns out it’s not actually a real store, but a pop art installation. The scene is fitting for the area because Marfa TX has become the hip new spot to view world-class minimalist art. Marfa was a small ranching community in the
Judd’s presence and influence turned the
middle of the desert approximately 200 miles
small town into a magnet for artists; a place
southeast of El Paso. At one time, it was known
for innovative artwork within a town that still
only for its military base built in 1942. After
retains its traditional western feel. A new wave
WWII had ended, the base was mothballed.
of artists is moving to Marfa to live and work.
In 1977, Donald Judd, the minimalist American
As a result, new gallery spaces are opening
artist, auctioned off twenty of his most famed
in the downtown area. There is a writers-
pieces and used the money to move his work
in-residency program, a Marfa theater group,
from New York City to Marfa. He turned the
and a multi-functional art space called Ball-
space into a museum and workshop.
room Marfa has begun to show art films, host musical performances, and exhibit other art
In 1986, the Chinati Foundation, a contempo-
installations. Ballroom Marfa is a nice combi-
rary art museum based on the Judd’s ideas,
nation of old and new: the former western dance
was opened on the site of the airbase. The
hall is a space for the most modern of art but
goal was and is to preserve and present to the
is located near an old-fashion general store.
public permanent large-scale installations by a limited number of artists including Judd,
Outside of Donald Judd and modern art, Marfa
Donald Flavin and John Chamberlain. The
may be most famous for the mysterious Marfa
Chinati Foundation now occupies ten buildings.
lights, visible every clear night between Marfa
Since Judd’s death in 1994, the Chinati Foun-
and the Paisano Pass when one is facing
dation and the Judd Foundation, which preserves
southwest toward the Chinati Mountains.
his living quarters, ranch and workspaces, have
A TASTE OF THE MARFA ART SCENE
kept Judd’s vision alive. LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CHINATI FOUNDATION
AMERICAN PATRIOT 11
AMERICA’S FUN FOODS
BUFFALO WINGS
America was forever changed on October 3, 1964. On that day, Teressa Belissimo, owner of the Anchor Bar in Buffalo NY, threw some chicken wings into the deep fryer as a late night snack for her college-aged son. As the legend goes, Teressa mixed the wings with cayenne hot sauce, and served the newfound American delicacy over celery sticks and blue cheese. Before Teressa made her legendary invention, chicken wings were discarded as scrap meat. They only cost five cents per pound at that time. Her “discovery” dovetailed with a revolutionary time for Buffalo; in the 1960s the rust-belt city had been declared an international seaport and was attempting a revival. To locals, Buffalo was back on the map. The newly invented food was part of the excitement. The snack became a local obsession. However, the broader growth of Buffalo wings did not begin to take off until 1975. Retirees from cold and snowy Buffalo tended to migrate to South Florida. These retirees could not live a life void of their favorite bar snack, so Edmund J. Hauk, a former Buffalo resident, opened the Wings N’ Curls chain in Florida. In January 1979, Craig Claiborne and Pierre Franey, highprofile food writers for the New York Times Magazine, wrote a recipe page on wings. This
Today, the Anchor Bar sells over 70,000 pounds of Buffalo wings per month. Dominos says more than 1/3 of their customers order wings. Hooters claims to sell over 30 million pounds of chicken wings per year. July 29 has been designated as the official “Chicken Wing Day” and Buffalo celebrates an annual Buffalo Wing Festival where tens of thousands attend the event.
first national article was followed by many others. Then in 1983, Hooters opened; its menu revolved around Buffalo wings. Soon
THE ORIGINAL ANCHOR BAR BUFFALO WING RECIPE
other chain restaurants like Dominos and Pizza Hut added wings to their menus.
AMERICAN PATRIOT 13
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the Republican model of Government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people." — GEORGE WASHINGTON FIRST INAUGURAL, APRIL 24, 1790
14 AMERICAN PATRIOT
THIS WEEK IN
AMERICAN HISTORY
1878. The original site of the national Easter Monday Egg Roll was not the White House but the United States Capitol. The egg roll activity of 1876 took its toll on the grounds. When Congress passed a law forbidding the Capitol grounds to be used as a children's playground, President Rutherford B. Hayes invited the egg rollers to move to the South Lawn of the White House. As children were being turned away from the Capitol grounds, word quickly spread to go to the president’s home. Successive Presidents continued the tradition, and the event has been held on the South Lawn ever since. For 2011, President Obama and the First Lady have adopted the theme “Get Up and Go!” to health and wellness, part of the First Lady’s Let’s Move! campaign to combat childhood obesity. SEE PICTURES OF THE 2010 EASTER EGG ROLL
AMERICAN PATRIOT 15
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